National Party’s MP and Immigration and Education spokesperson Erica Stanford talks to Indian Weekender on various issues concerning the community, from the border announcement to the fate of those stuck offshore and why reuniting the split families should be the priority and much more
On border opening announcement:
The government hit what I call a reality brick wall as they knew that they couldn't keep the borders closed anymore. There was enormous heartbreak for Kiwis trying to get home, migrants trying to leave and families who had been split for around three years. They knew they couldn't do this anymore. And the Covid risk now isn't our community as it's not so much at the border. I am pretty pleased that they finally realised that we have to open up to the world.
On people’s reaction:
I think there's a little bit of trepidation. I think people are a bit untrusting of this government. We've had this before, where we've had plans, and then they haven't gone as people expected. Therefore, people are feeling a little bit cautious and think whether they can really believe the government this time. Kiwis are pretty happy that the borders are going to be open, and we're going to get back to some form of normality. Of course, that's a different story for migrants. I've been flooded with really upset emails from split families and people offshore who don't have any certainty or have been pushed to the bottom of the queue. So, there's some real heartache out there for migrants.
On what the government should be doing for split families:
I would have prioritised them. Frankly, I would have put them up there with Kiwis coming home. I would have put all split migrant families in stage 2. I feel they've been given it a bit of lip service and said all if you earn over 1.5 times the median wage, then you can be reunited with your family at stage two. Firstly, that's a slap in the face for migrants; you don't miss your kids more if you earn more money. Most split migrant families will miss out on that category as most split migrant families earned between the median wage and 1.5 times the median wage. So, they won't be able to reunite at stage two and will have to wait until stage five. So basically, the government yet again is relegating them right to the bottom of the pile. What's particularly galling is the fact that they split migrant families who haven't seen their children and partners for coming up three years, are going to watch the course of this year, they're going to see working holiday visas people come in before the sports teams come in before them. And what's a real big kick in the guts is that even tourists from visa waiver countries will come in before split families. And I think it proves that this government does not value migrants.
On 5000 students being able to come from April:
We need to get students back. And I think it's a great move. I've got a couple of concerns. Rather than leaving it to the market, I read today that the Ministry of Education will be selecting who those 5000 students are, which is a worry. We have a trashed reputation around the world in terms of immigration. When the government says, 'oh, we're going to attract all these migrants,'; I want to ask what are you actually doing to attract them? Just saying you can come is not particularly attractive when you look at the last two years. And even before that, with long queues, like families, people trapped here not being able to get out and come back. People are trapped offshore and unable to get back, and we've really treated migrants horrifically in the last couple of years. I think probably the biggest one for me is it's all very well to say we're welcoming all these people back. But the question is, do Immigration NZ have the resources to process the visas right now? The wait time for a student visa is three months. So these guys are talking about getting students back for term two; I'm like, well, who will process the applications. We could have invited back our students much earlier; you can see Australia has targeted them. The same with working holiday visa holders as well. In Australia, they say if you get into Australia, we'll give you a cashback on your visa before a specific date.
Also, when you look at Australia, where there are greater certainties around pathways to residents, that treat migrants a lot better in their incentives to go there. We seem to be the poor cousin. And in a world where we're all competing for the same types of migrants. We don't have a lot to offer, you know, we need to concentrate on what we are providing that will make people come here rather than Australia or Canada? I haven't heard anything from the Immigration Minister about how he's going to attract these people.
For migrants stuck offshore:
The government has said from April that you can come back in if you have a valid visa. But of course, what about people whose visas have expired and the government have said nothing about them. And I have said this a number of times that I predict that the government will allow those visas to expire and then do nothing about it quietly. I don't expect them to renew their visas at all. I think the government has got this new immigration reset, where we're after much more highly paid, much more highly skilled people. And I think the chances of them going back and saying, oh, we'll renew, renew your post-study open work visa is quite slim as it doesn't match their goals of this artificially pushing up this higher wage economy. I feel for these people, they have spent a lot of money here on education with the promise of working to pay some of that debt back. And so, it's a real kick in the guts for them.
On expanding one-off eligibility criteria:
I know the frustration that many people who have not been eligible mainly because of visas or being offshore are facing. The minister really dug his heels in at the beginning and said this is the category it's not changing. There are some blatantly obvious categories that need to be added; for example, every year we bring in, I think it's maybe 100 or 200 Filipino nurses; it's a specific Filipino nurse visa. They're not included. Why not? I mean, that is a complete no brainer. But I think, you know, he doesn't like to be called out and like, he hasn't thought through things. But we're going to go pretty hard on a few of those real no brainers like PhD students. We want them here to stay.
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